CA Governor’s Building For The 21st Century Report Looks To Incentivize Infrastructure Investment

Many in the land use field have been anxiously awaiting the release of the
Governor’s 21st Century Infrastructure Report.

The report, released earlier this
month, outlines strategies for the state to better incentivize planning, zoning and
land use to aid in the construction of housing and infrastructure. TPR is pleased to
excerpt two portions of the report–the Land Use section and the Housing
section–which offer some insightful ideas and novel policy suggestions to help
California get back on track in terms of investing in infrastructure for the future.
The full report can be found at http://www.bth.ca.gov.

Land is a finite
natural resource
and literally
provides the
physical foundation
for the state’s built
and natural
environment. Our
land supports our homes, schools,
stores, industries, hospitals and
public facilities — our communities.
Our land also includes our farms,
parks, open space and wildlife
habitats.

Historically, there has been
substantial conflict over what lands
should be developed, what land
should be preserved and how we
should steward all our lands.
California is projected to grow by 12
million people over the next 20 years
which poses substantial new
challenges for land use
decision-making.We need to plan
better so that we use land most
efficiently to build quality places and
preserve our important natural assets.

Stewardship

California has a long-standing
tradition of environmental leadership
as exemplified by our State
commissions and conservancies that
protect Lake Tahoe, our parks, our
coast, prime agricultural lands and
other important land resources.
However, we face many challenges in
the stewardship of our natural
resources. Past land use practices
have led to the loss of important
assets and contamination of our
lands, watersheds and coastal areas.

Brownfields are under-utilized assets
and negatively impact the
community. Agriculture must have
land resources to be sustained
economically. Healthy watersheds
are critical for habitat, water quality
and supply; clean beaches and rivers
are important recreation assets. We
need to improve our use and
management of resources on both
publicly and privately owned lands. To
do so, we need better data and
improved science and practices.
Today’s stewardship provides the
legacy for the future.

Inefficient Development Patterns

Current development patterns are
characterized by relatively low
density and dispersed distribution of
housing, commercial buildings and
other facilities. One manifestation is
that jobs and housing are not close to
one another, resulting in long
commutes, diminished family time,
and increased costs for families and
businesses. At the same time,
disinvestments in the urban core of
many of our major cities and older
suburbs wastes prior investments and
impairs economic growth. There is
adequate land to accommodate
growth in existing communities and
on undeveloped and environmentally
appropriate lands, but only if we use
our land more efficiently.

Poor Planning & Development
Conflicts

Economic and population growth
creates intense competition for land.
Poor planning results in conflicts
between development and
conservation needs. Local and
regional land use planning is often not
coordinated with planning for housing,
water, transportation, and other key
areas. Approximately one-third of our
cities and counties have not
developed a plan or policy for growth
in their General Plans in the last 10
years. Thus, these areas may be
unprepared to deal with future growth.
Though better planning is a high
priority, many communities lack
sufficient resources to update
General Plans and participate in
integrated regional planning.

The implementation of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is
sometimes used inappropriately to
prevent needed development. Citizen
concerns about growth and
environmental impacts have led to
initiatives to limit growth, often called
"ballot-box planning." This situation
dilutes the ability of public officials to
provide policy direction and the ability
of local governments to plan
effectively for the future. …

California is facing an
extreme housing
shortage.We have not
built enough housing
for more than a
decade and what we
have is too expensive
for most Californians.
Decent, affordable housing is a
fundamental element of the American
Dream and California¹s economic
prosperity.We must do a better job of
providing desirable, affordable housing
choices in livable communities
throughout the State.

Sufficient Housing Supply

A major barrier to increased housing
production is the current state-local
fiscal structure. This fiscal structure
prevents many local governments from
realizing reliable and adequate funding
sources to provide services and
infrastructure for new residents. Instead,
local governments are encouraged to
seek retail over housing development for
sales tax generation.

Another barrier is the residential
entitlement process, which often results
in extensive delays for approvals and
environmental reviews. Local
governments are often overly reactive to
NIMBY concerns about new housing
development, even when the
development is consistent with
approved General Plans.

The result is higher prices when
housing is finally built. Housing
production has been impeded by
disputes over long-standing
construction defect and related defect
litigation issues. For these and other
reasons, many cities, counties and
regions do not meet housing needs as
established by State housing planning
targets.

Housing Affordability

California faces housing affordability
challenges for renters and owners at
most income levels. The expansion of
this crisis from low-wage workers to
other income levels demonstrates the
impact that this shortage has on an
expanding number of Californians. First,
for more than two decades, low-income
Californians have had difficulty finding
decent, accessible, affordable housing.
Low-income households pay too great a
share of their income on rent, more
people are living in overcrowded
conditions and for most, home
ownership is not even a possibility.

Second, for an increasing number of
middle income families–including
households headed by teachers, nurses
and firefighters–insufficient production of
homes and rental units results in high
prices and the cost of home ownership
is out of reach.

Location and Development Patterns

Housing production has not kept pace
with job growth, in quantity or by
location. Increasingly, people must live
far from work to find affordable housing,
which increases commute time and
cost, and decreases personal and
family time. Long distance commutes
also exacerbate the limited options for
senior and child care. Housing in more
distant locations is less likely to be
served by transit, and shopping and
services are not easily accessible
because current zoning regulations
separate commercial and residential
land uses.

New housing developments also tend to
be built at densities too low to produce
a sufficient supply of housing on
available land. At the same time,
abandonment of older existing
communities wastes prior infrastructure
investments and diminishes the quality
of life for those left behind.

These development patterns erode a
sense of community and make it
difficult to meet future housing needs.
Modest increases in density will allow
communities to maximize limited land
resources and infrastructure
investments as well as reduce the cost
of producing housing. Changes in
zoning codes, improvements in
community design, and restoration of
underutilized and sometimes
contaminated urban lands will help
meet our housing needs and create
more livable communities.

http://www.ablinc.net/tpr/archive/mar2002f.html